Films and TV typically depict code-breakers as genius mathematicians running clever programmes on the fastest computers of their day – but for the kind of code-breaking I do, putting it into a computer is almost always the last step, not the first step.
In fact, there are close to a hundred things historical code-breakers like to try to work out first, such as:
* Who owns it?
* Who owned it in the past?
* Does it look genuine?
* Is there anything that might prove that it’s a fake?
* Was the code connected to any other documents?
* Are there references to the code in other documents?
* Is there any extra writing directly linked to the code?
* Do we know who the code-maker was?
* What was the code-maker’s situation?
* Who was supposed to be able to read the code?
* Are there any other documents written using the same letter shapes?
* Why was there any need for a code at all?
* Is it a code, or a cipher, or something in-between?
* Was each line of text written left-to-right or right-to-left?
* What language was the hidden message probably written in?
* Does the code’s text have any unusual features?
…and so on.
In short, if you ask your computer to work out what a message says in English when it’s actually written in German, it’s never going to find an answer, is it?
And the more that you can work out for certain before you try breaking the code, the greater the chance you will actually solve it.
Are Ricky McCormick’s Notes In Code?
Though I’ve covered Ricky McCormick’s mysterious notes here before, the short answer is…
No, they’re not.
When Ricky McCormick dropped out of school, he was barely able to read or write: the system had failed him completely – perhaps he was dyslexic, it’s hard to say. His parents “told investigators he sometimes jotted down nonsense he called writing“; that “the only thing he could write was his name“; and that Ricky “couldn’t spell anything, just scribble.”
The poor quality of the handwriting in his notes is completely consistent with the suggestion that he wrote them himself. And if he could barely write English, writing notes to himself in code seems extraordinarily unlikely.
So if you start off (as the Wikipedia “Ricky McCormick’s encrypted notes” page does) by assuming that Ricky McCormick’s notes are encrypted, I believe you have already doomed your code-breaking attempts to failure.
Personally, I can’t come up with even a single reason why the FBI ever thought that they might be in code (in the sense of a cryptographic code).
But we still might be able to read them…
Reading Ricky McCormick’s Notes
I think the most likely explanation for the notes is that they are written in (what is effectively) his own private language – notes to himself that nobody else needed to be able to read.
I’ve marked up the top few lines of the second note so that you can see some of the groups of letters (such as “WLD” and “NCBE”) that occur again and again:-
One mystery is why the “SE” pair occurs so often: perhaps that was related to a speech quirk he had.
Also: the bottom line of the first note has a sequence that seems to say “(194 WLD’S NCBE)”. This makes it look as though both “WLD” and “NCBE” are nouns, and that (whatever they actually are) a “WLD” can own a “NCBE”… but that’s as far as I can go.
When we read these notes, I think we’re hearing inside Ricky McCormick’s head. But until we talk with the people who knew him, know his speech patterns, know his world… we’ll probably never make sense of them.
I am having difficulty reading the note, so can you find an ‘i’ anywhere in the note? He may not have been able to distinguish or remember the use of the i or the l. Another problem alpha-combination would ie or ei . m and n would also be confused. So such words as nice and niece would be difficult for him.
My sister was a whiz at math but was a terrible speller. When I was in the fifth grade, I was a contender for the statewide spelling contest. My mother would not approve my entering the contest. Her reason being that the bus driver was a drunk. Unh hunh.
From the sample you provide on this page, I would diagnose dyslexia and/or the need for decent pair of eyeglasses. Or maybe just the chant “i before e , except after c — or in such cases of the words ‘neighbor’ or ‘weigh’ (the pronunciation of the sound of ‘A’ ” . But then one has to puzzle over words such as a horse’s ‘neigh’ .
beady-eyed wonder
WLD = “wild”? Or “Wilde”?
I preferred your earlier dyslexia suggestion.
I’m not quite sure whether it was quite what you were inferring about the “SE”, but something like “SE” (or more like SEE, perhaps) is a fairly common sound in English (albeit each time it could be a different spelling). If you consider a dyslexic with other comprehension issues dictating someone who explains with constant “SEE?” coupled with the frequency of the same sound occurring in natural language I think you can sort of explain the frequency.
I also think someone with a poor education is likely to misuse an apostrophe – I’d guess for a plural (especially one they might not be use to hearing in plural), or on a noun that they feel is particularly important for whatever reason.
So I sort of agree with the “his own language”, bit, but I think it’s a language fairly directly derived from English (or gangsta-English if that’s the crowds he was with) – but derived basically phonetically (with possible dyslexic jumbling).
I sort of liked someone’s hypothesis that “NCBE” is a jumble of “Ounce Bag” (and possibly WLD is some optional description to it) – but I don’t think the numbers are directly related to that (aside from everything else “Ounce Bag”makes me think drugs and they then seem awfully large quantities) – but rather is either “an Ounce Bag”, or “The Ounce Bag” (depending on context) [And the numbers 71, 74, (or is it 34) and 75 relate to addresses – eg within the complex across from the Service station (Clinton Peabody – where he lived?)…]
1st Year CS students might remember having to write instructions to make a cup of tea (or something) and I think this might be a similar recipe, just with less structure…
“take Ounce Bag and got to blah….”
On the page carefully marked P1, under the addresses (or whatever, 71,74/34, 75) there appears to be some sort of additional instruction, which I could almost imagine to beginning:
“if noone comes…” (ie if no answer do this that and the other to the WLD NCBE (perhaps WLD is the person he’s acting on behalf of – which would suggest that the apostrophe is correct, I suppose)
(NB: it also occured to be that NCBE might be something like “CABIN”)
@beady there appear to be several ‘I’ in the chicken scratchings, sometimes made explicit by Serif, and sometimes without (so it might be a lower case ‘L’ – but I don’t think so).
But personally I think we can speculate and come up with loads of perfectly cromulent explanations – but I think we’d struggle to make a very compelling argument to any particular idea….
Hey, Milongal — you almost gave me a ‘gotcha’ moment — with the word ‘cromulent’ !
I couldn’t find it in my six-inch-thick “Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary ”
Fortunately, my husband was listening to my muttering ; he appeared at my shoulder and flashed his laptop message at me; “cromulent” : “acceptable, fine, good” .
So, we are in agreement as far as word usage and/or spelling ? I’m going to take another (closer) look at Nick’s offering on this page. CYA later !
bd
Here, in the US anyway, just about any good-sized city or town will have two kinds of graffiti : ‘gangsta’ garbage writing or some beautiful artwork. What we don’t see is a combination of writing and art.
So, what I’m looking at in McCormick’s notes is an attempt to write down some instructions being spoken to him by the ‘boss’ . It might also be a list (spoken to him) of groceries his mom wanted him to get from the store. (?)
🙂
Oh my ! It takes one to know one — a deaf person — who probably was much more intelligent than he appeared to be. He probably read lips/body postures from a very early age.
I was born with a cleft soft palate, and significant hearing loss — which did not become apparent to my parents and sisters until I was about six years old. I read lips, facial expressions, and body postures — to gain some understanding of what was being spoken. In addition to the hearing loss, I was cross-eyed. The eye surgery was successful to some extent. However, even today, I cannot read anything with my left eye. With my one good eye, I was still able to read and spell at a high-school (12th grade) level when I was 8 – 10 years old.
Poor Mr. McCormick ! There is NO CODE in the notes he wrote. Only mnemonics to himself in what he was probably lipreading……. Some body-language was probably misunderstood by him.
So, probably current-day ‘decoders’ may be able to translate his notes; but only if they put plugs in their ears and put on a pair of blurry eyeglasses, and write some notes with whichever hand & fingers are opposite to their own.
b-d-i-d-1-dr : beady-eyed wonder (self-proclaimed)
Cromulent was a word the Simpson’s writers made up that ended up in the lexicon over the years. It has no etymology but has still embiggened our vocabularies.
As KRCnotes: That was a Simpson one which (at least in my small circle of friends) seems to have been added to the vocabulary.
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Made-up_words#Cromulent
I believe that the ” NOTES ” that Mr. McCormick had are information that he came across that someone had discarded. I think that he then enciphered this information into text that he could understand. I also think that there is a civilian/military connection to UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and bombs/explosives that were converted to Smart Bombs. Also, many unexploded devices are routinely found in the areas around St Louis when construction is being done. Many heavy metals were also buried nearby.
@ KRC & Milongal: Embiggened ? If you think I’m going to dig out my six-inch thick “Websters” you’ve got another think coming ! (my mother’s phraseology when she was anticipating my pleas for ‘freedom’ to go double-dating, to the local Saturday night dances, or go to Fleischacker swimming pool in San Francisco for some diving practice off the 60-foot tall deck — or – ride pillion on a good friend’s Harley Davidson ……
I shudder to think of all the military’s explosives dumps which may not yet have been discovered. I was born in St. Charles Illinois (just across the River from St. Louis, Missouri). BTW the Missourian’s pronounce St. Louis St. Lewis, not looey).
No, I don’t think I’m a looney — maybe just a gabby old woman whose neighbors have their summer cabins up here. So thanks for bearing with me!
beady
@ Rick Roberts: Good grief — talk about military dumps — right now we are not talking ‘military dumps’ in general. What was being dumped was radioactive material — which apparently has been burning its way (underground) into Saint Louis’ suburbs. So, now we may find a connection to Chicago Illinois, where the “Atomic Bomb” was being developed — right across the river.
All this latest ‘news’ may also explain the multiple ‘birth defects’ of my eyes, ears, nose, throat — and mitral valve prolapse of my heart (some 70 years ago).
Poor Ricky McCormick !
I wonder how many people have, and continue to be poisoned by heavy metals and the radioactive materials that were buried in an improper manner over the decades? As you say, a myriad of medical conditions can be caused by the toxicity of the material. Also, it has been long proven that heavy metal poisoning causes mental conditions such as depression and bi-polar disease. Some people are having chealation procedures to try and cleanse their bodies of the toxic elements. It does work to some degree, however, once the toxic elements enter the body through pores, the blood stream, or lungs, the other organs of the body can also be effected.
Another very hazardous material still in use (here and there) is mercury (although it is no longer being mined). For quite a few years, mercury was mined, even at the outskirts of towns (Almaden sector of San Jose, California, for example). If I recall mercury was used, instead of ‘gold-panning”, for separating gold flakes or nuggets from the waterways or ‘diggings/mines”.
Still beady-eyed — and still wondering — even when my mind occasionally wanders……
bd
And then there was the “Mad Hatter” (Film: Alice in Wonderland?) Alice samples several liquids, and continues down the road. She encounters a ‘hare’ who makes hats: “The Mad Hatter”.
Even in the American colony/village of BeverwycK (Beaver River) in New England, beaver fur was shipped to England — to be made into the tall, black hats which gentlemen wore (mostly in the evening in London?) My reference:
Russell Shorto — “The Island at the Center of the World” pages 75-77.
Ennyway, I thank our host — and y’all for following my contributions to Nick’s website.
beady-eyed-wonder (er).
Well — yesterday evening I found a blog which discussed the movement of the waste material from the development of nuclear weaponry/armaments (WWII) . (See, I just had a “McCormick Moment.)
Y’see, its like this: Various federal, state, and county agencies hired contractors to clean-up what couldn’t be cleaned up. So at least two dumpsite contractors are dickering over whose dumpsite is not going to accept any more nuclear waste — even if county, state, and federal agencies come up with a plan
I don’t see ne agrmnt btwn the various waste removal guys and the city, county, state, & federal agencies. Not yet, anyway.
So, Nick, maybe we can understand more of McCormick’s note contents ?
Apparently the various agencies are still saying, basically, there is nothing that can be done to stop the creep of deadly radioactive hot material ( inches a week, feet a month,…..)
So, how did Mr. McCormick die? Strangled? Gunshot? Radiation poisoning? Was there an autopsy? Coroner’s findings? Who found his body? Where was he buried? Is his family still living in their home? Are they likely to receive any comfort or recompense?
Last line of Mr. McCormick’s note : “dumped 6 tons……bcex….. (?)
bd
Interesting, Nick, that no 1 seems to be interested in a translation of Mr. McCormick’s notes. The fact seems to be that if it is not a code (fit for the exercise of ‘de-coding’) there is very little interest.
I was kinda interested in the aftermath of Mr. McCormick’s discovery — and death.
Keep on keeping on with your presentations of very interesting mysteries.
Y’see, I’m getting more vision loss with every passing month. So, I really enjoy your posts — partly because you let me tease you ‘now and then’. X my heart, I’m trying to stay within the boundaries of ‘the tempest in a teapot”…. bd
This morning, I visited your other discussion about McCormick’s notes. Since (apparently) various county and federal agencies have not been able to solve McCormick’s mysterious (but NOT coded) notes — maybe it is time to apply for a permit to investigate US Federal Agency(s) records in re the use of Nuclear material — and the storage of ‘exhausted’ material. Here, in the US, our hospitals have departments called “Radiology” or “Nuclear Medicine”. They also have ‘off-campus’ storage facilities for ‘hazardous materials and waste”. Mmmmmhummmm.
bd
Oh dear me ! It takes a nurse/nursing student to attempt to interpret Ricky’s attempt to follow the doctor’s or nurse’s instructions (considering he had a temperature of 99.84 & illegible pulse rate and d-w-m .4 mil(ligrams) xdrlx — 4x daily? . Probably totally ‘off-base’, b-u-u-t —-
Who knows, maybe Munchausen by proxy ——- just wondering, for the moment. I’ll pull out my books which followed me from FLCC Key West Florida, and SMSU (Missouri).
I’m holding on to my earlier reference to McCormick probably being somewhat hearing impaired.
Nope, not Munchausen’s. I am wondering if Ricky’s visit to the hospital may have been a walk-in — (no appointment). In such cases, sometimes it is a paramedic or nurse who reviews the patient and then sends them to the hospital pharmacy to collect the meds.
bd
@ Rick Roberts: Has there been any discussion in re an autopsy being done on that badly deteriorated body? I would think that if his body was found so very near an ordnance dump site there would have been “hell to play” by the ‘authorities’, military or otherwise.
bd
Correction: “hell to pay”
I’ve been somewhat distracted today; hence the borderline illiteracy. Weldon Park? I’m going online to see what I can see…..
thanx for the ‘tip’ !
I just visited the website for Weldon Park. Interesting that they discuss the “Katy Trail”.
My husband’s grandfather was a train engineer on the “Katy Railroad” in the late 1800’s. Round n’ round we go, eh? So, would the “Katy Trail” in Weldon Park, by any chance be the remains of the Kansas and Texas RR tracks? If so, was the railroad company still maintaining the tracks in the 1940’s ? (Perhaps moving tons of irradiated materials to a nearby dumpsite?)
bd
So, I wonder if Weldon Park has not yet been studied as maybe having a huge radioactive ‘mine tailings’ under its RR tracks and walking paths…..
Thanx, Rick and Charles, for your feedback !
bd
Correction to my earlier reference to railroads: and possibly radioactive gravels being used on the tracks) near Weldon Park : It was the M-K-T railroad. Yesterday I found a photograph of the M-K-T 311 (4-4-0) which is on display at the National Museum of Transportation at Kirkwood, Missouri. “M-K-T” — Missouri-Kansas-Texas (The Katy). It could be that the Museum may have the records of the trains’ engineers/operators, and ‘track-controllers”.
So, if the trains which traveled through St. Louis and Weldon Park were possibly carting radioactive exhaust materials and ordinance, what indicators would be obvious?
bd (who is obsessed?)
Oh dear me ! Ricky’s remains were found near “Weldon Park” — once known as Weldon Spring Ordnance Works . Terrifying! See for yourselves via wikipedia. You can even get coordinates for St. Charles County (Missouri) on the top right corner of the Wikipedia page. Talk about Superfund Sites — AWFUL
So, I’m now going to revisit Weldon Springs to verify (or not) whether the Katy trains had tracks through Weldon Springs (today they call one of their walking trails the “Katy”).
So, perhaps Mr. McCormick can now RIP ?
bd
You might like to look up Malinckrodt’s earliest work which was the development of a process for purifying large quantities of uranium. The purified uranium was used at the University of Chicago Pile -1 — the first nuclear chain reaction. This is just an excerpt from Wikipedia.
I now know that it was not just Cobalt-60 to which I was exposed…..
bdeyedwonder
Yesterday, I posted to your other discussion page (I thought this page) about the huge ‘visitor center mound’ — stairs and all — which is not very far from Weldon Springs. I also referred you to a very interesting discussion of other deteriorating dumpsites — hundreds of leaking barrels which were/are contaminating the drinking water supplies and the Missouri River.
Also I mentioned Malinckrodt’s purchase of the land upon which that huge ‘dome’ is now a museum. Interesting that various government agencies have not been able to make a connection with Ricky’s notes (and consequent death) .
Basically, the Malinckrodt’s were involved in creating various radiological diagnostic and cancer treatments for hospitals and medical schools/universities. So, I hope I’m correctly remembering the timelines and sequences of post-world war II use of radioactive/nuclear byproducts of the “Manhattan Project”.
Page 426, second and third full paragraphs, of Anita M. Mallinckrodt’s book: ‘From Knights to Pioneers” discuss the involvement of the Mallinckrodt Chemical Company in purifying a ton of uranium ‘daily’… as a contribution to the efforts to produce the first ‘Atomic Bomb”. There is much more discussion….
and involvement with the Atomic Energy Commission.
bd
Another Mallinckrodt product was “C-T” — columbium-tantalum — ‘from ‘natural uranium ore’. Also on page 426 is mention of Arthur Holly Compton “renowned physicist” working on the University of Chicago project”.
I’m hoping that current readers of this discussion page will also take a look at Nick’s other presentation of the same person on a ‘fresh’ page which title is :
“Ricky McCormick’s mysterious notes… – Cipher Mysteries. Specifically, I’m looking for for discussion/info from Rick A. Roberts and Charles Witteck. There was some confusion between the two puzzle pages — and Nick’s need to change to new servers. I hope we can all get caught up.
Thanx, Nick, for some of the most interesting ‘puzzle-solving’ in a long time!
Still beady-eyed (not necessarily a beady-eyed wonder, though) !
There is discussion (online) in re the borders of the Bridgeton dumpsite and the Weldon Spring dumpsite. A very good map is available online.
Do I recall correctly that Mr. McCormick’s corpse was found near the adjoining Bridgeton property and Welden Spring quarry? There is, online, a very good map of those properties — not so much as adjoining but rather the Bridgeton dump is surrounded by the Mallinckcrodt / Welden Springs properties .
bdid1dr
@ Anton: My apologies for not answering your query as to what WLD might be saying — my guess was recently validated: Ricky McCormick, himself, was documenting the tunse (tons) of Nuclear bomb explosive (NCBE) waste material which was being dulmt (dumped) into the Weldon Spring dumpsite (which also shared space with the Bridgeton refuse dump).
One of the last entries on one of the two notes found in McCormicks’ jeans mentions his visit to the hospital and a prescription (Rx) to take the meds 4 times (X) a day.
bdid1dr
Has there been any new news in re the underground fire on the Bridgeton property. The last info I was able to locate was that the Bridgeton fire could not be put out because every time the “other” dumpsite (Weldon) pumped out ‘gas’ from their site, it entered oxygen into the Bridgeton dumpsite underground fire. Oh dear!
bd
Oh well, I can hope that Rick Roberts is actively following up on Ricky’s illness and sudden death. I see that Rick Roberts has been visiting one (or 2 ?) of Nick’s latest puzzle pages. Interesting!
Fun!
bd
Have you closed the discussions in re Ricky McCormick’s mysterious death?
Radiation poisoning, misdiagnosis by a hospital ’employee’ and useless medication order (which McCormick could probably not be able to have filled ( $$ ).
bd
i think the ncbe stands for a location, either on/ in/ north Cote Brilliante, the street that ran right by his high school. either a meeting place, drop point, stash point, lookout, something. it’s also a neighborhood and name of a church nearby.
i think ((acsm)) near the top of p1 stands for “ask him” or “ask M”, and suggests that the things set off in parentheses are things the writer (I assume Mr. McCormick) is unsure of or wants to check with his boss or contact about. In African American vernacular English, ‘ask’ is frequently pronounced “aks”.
I definatly think ‘prseond e’ relates to ‘ person is’
So it’s like
( first person is 71 NCBE)
(second person is 74 NCBE) – the sound Se being spelt as C, as to a dyslexic they may imagine that is the correct letter.
– prste could be preist or past. (Preiest person is 75 NCBE)
Then (Sole mdre ) – sole murder?
This is kind of interesting. When I heard from Don Olsen in Quantico, he told me to send on the envelope “Ricky McCormick case” I dont know why, and it wasnt. Don Olsen knew it wasnt about that case too.
It’s not code, it’s really horrible writing.
A partial read of the 6th line from the bottom on page 2
Please increase adults in Sixth Sense (referring to the movie)
he’s using e’s instead of i’s in places, leaves vowels out
On the first page, luse to te wld = lose to the wild, Wild being the Minnesota Wild hockey team. Are they scores above that? Dates of games?
Firse pase = first place
Oh it’s PQSE, never mind I thought it was an A!
Ooh maybe I have a lead. He died on the 30th of June 1999. The next day was the 1st of July or 1/7 going by American dating.
Therefore 7/1 is 1st July, 74 is 4th of July and 75 is 5th of July.
Sixth sense came out in 1999. Believe me yet?
I’ve looked through most of these comments, but for the one I saw about the ‘NCBE’ word, in his notes. Some say it stands for Nuclear Bomb Explosives and I find that quite interesting because of course the dropping of 6 tons of nuclear bomb explosives never really happened. I know that Mr. Mccormick had a few phsycological problems including making up things such as being a professional singer but of course he really wasnt, writing down nuclear bomb explosives most like is something that he made up but I’ve also seen that it might be a Street next to his highschool. I’m not from America so I don’t really know the street I’m in the UK and I came across this case and found it quite interestning. From what I know he definitely hasn’t written in code. A question on my mind is if he knows the alphabet enough to write the notes that the FBI found. I know he can write his name which signals to me that he know the alphabet but I’m quite unsure if he knows the whole alphabet. He doesn’t form proper sentences as well, another point. Most likely he write these notes because he’s missed out some words that might make a proper sentence. Most likely he’s writing what he thinks the words might’ve been spelt like according to sound. Looking at the sentences that I’ve tried to work out it doesn’t have any lead to what might have caused his death. I’m quite unsettled by the fact he wrote this though. From what I’ve seen it doesn’t connect to his death. But I haven’t been able to make out the rest of his notes so most likely it is in the rest. I really wonder why he wrote this. I’ve seen the number 99.84.5, this is very weird for me and I don’t understand what this means. Is it a street? Is it a date?- most likely not. Is it an abbreviaton? I’ve done appt of searching and I found 99 stand for night night- kind of sounds like night night too. It might be a verse from a book, most likely the bible, but I wonder if Mr. Mccormick is christian? Too many questions to be honest. Here is a sentence that I’m trying to work out: 99.84.5 LUNEPLSE. PLSE makes out to me the word please but I am still confused. The word LUNE doesn’t make sense either but iT might be the word noon, it sounds like it but with an L. After “PLSE” the word verse is randomly placed there which made me think of the bible. I found the verse: Psalm: 84:5 in the bible and Psalm:99 as well but they are not the same. After that is just a jumble of letters that I cannot understand, I do really hope we can work out the rest, but so far this is what I’ve tried. I hope this helps in trying to work out The rest. Sorry for such a long comment, I am quite intrigued by this case and I hope you can read this to the fullest and understand what I am saying, be safe everyone!
Void, you may have a point that Ricky McCormick doesn’t know the alphabet well. If you go on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_McCormick%27s_encrypted_notes, you can see what his mother said about him which matches up.
I’m with lizzy on the first person second person. First person was 5’11 second was 6’2″, third 6’3″